Hey, You Guys!: A Look Again at ‘The Electrical Firm’

A staple of most Gen X childhoods, The Electrical Firm ended its authentic six-season run on April 15, 1977, after airing a staggering 780 episodes. The present would proceed to re-air on PBS till late 1985, creating an enduring affect on each its viewers and on kids’s tv as a complete.

Created by the then-relatively unknown actor Paul Dooley (Sixteen Candles, Popeye, Breaking Away), The Electrical Firm was produced by the Kids’s Tv Workshop, the corporate that additionally introduced Sesame Road to TV. Earlier than it wrapped up, The Electrical Firm would run on 250 stations nationwide, win two Emmys, and be used as a educating software in lecture rooms throughout the nation.

The Electrical Firm additionally helped launch the careers of actors like Morgan Freeman, who was then principally identified for his Broadway work. He appeared within the present’s first forged, alongside Rita Moreno, Judy Graubart, Lee Chamberlin, Skip Hinnant and the now-disgraced Invoice Cosby, who would solely seem sometimes in season two. Later, the forged would decide up actors like Fame’s Irene Cara, who later went on to win an Academy Award for her efficiency of “Flashdance … What a Feeling.”

It’s additionally price noting that Breaking Unhealthy and Higher Name Saul star Giancarlo Esposito sang on The Electrical Firm‘s theme tune, although he by no means truly appeared on the present.

Watch an Episode of ‘The Electrical Firm’

A wacky mixture of live-action sketches, animation and the occasional puppet, The Electrical Firm was hailed for its deal with kids’s literacy. Whereas Sesame Road was geared toward preschool children, The Electrical Firm was for youths ages 6 to 9 and meant to complement what they have been already studying in class. The present tried to show kids to learn by specializing in the sounds of letters and letter mixtures, educating viewers the worth of “ck” or “br.”

To create its sketches, The Electrical Firm enlisted a veritable cavalcade of legendary stars. Mel Brooks would pop up every now and then because the Blond-Haired Cartoon Man, who would usually be confronted with a collection of incorrectly ordered phrases he’d must reorganize. Joan Rivers narrated “The Adventures of Letterman,” an animated phase that includes the voice of Gene Wilder because the titular hero. (Zero Mostel voiced the villain, the Spell Binder, who has since been cited as perpetuating a detrimental racial stereotype of Arab folks.)

The present usually despatched up in style Hollywood tropes and properties with segments like “5 Seconds,” which was a spin on Mission: Unattainable, and “Right here’s Cooking at You,” which forged Graubart because the punny Julia Grown-Up. Graubart additionally starred alongside Jim Boyd in “Jennifer of the Jungle,” which was a form of Catskills comedy tackle George of the Jungle. Different animated sketches, like “Monolith,” taught phonics in a headier manner, usually to the tune of Richard Strass’ “Additionally Sprach Zarathustra.”

Recurring characters additionally abounded on the present: Freeman took on a number of roles, together with the graceful Simple Reader, chatty DJ Mel Mounds and Vincent the Vegetable Vampire, which is just about what it appears like. Moreno hammed it up because the short-tempered Otto the Director and the enthusiastic Millie the Helper, whose catchphrase, “Hey, you guys!,” was finally included into the present’s opening credit. (It’s additionally a type of phrases that you simply’ve most likely heard aped or mimicked, however by no means knew the place it got here from – and now you do!)

Watch Morgan Freeman on ‘The Electrical Firm’

Apparently, the present additionally featured two in style current characters from elsewhere on the earth of leisure. Beginning in Season 4, Danny Seagren performed Spider-Man in a collection of sketches known as “Spidey Tremendous Tales.” He by no means spoke or appeared out of costume, together with his phrases solely showing in speech bubbles above his head for the viewers to learn. (A spin-off collection of Marvel Comics, Spidey Tremendous-Tales, got here out across the similar time.) The present additionally contained new Highway Runner cartoons written and directed by Chuck Jones, which used phrases and sounds to element the plight of its title character and his dogged pursuer, Wile E. Coyote.

A few of The Electrical Firm’s songs endure to today, thanks partly to its glorious musical workers.

For the primary three seasons, the present’s musical director was Sesame Road’s Joe Raposo, who was an absolute powerhouse of creation and is greatest identified for penning songs like “Bein’ Inexperienced,” “C Is for Cookie” and “Sing,” in addition to the themes to each Sesame Road and Three’s Firm. Satirist Tom Lehrer wrote 10 songs for the collection, together with “L-Y” and “Silent E,” whereas Broadway icon Gary William Friedman labored on season 4, composing materials for about 260 episodes and penning 40-odd songs, together with the favored Spider-Man theme tune.

Hearken to the ‘Spider-Man’ Theme Tune From ‘The Electrical Firm’

Sadly, The Electrical Firm ended on the peak of its recognition due partly to a scarcity of licensed items. Whereas Sesame Road was costly for PBS to supply, it additionally generated income via books, video games and toys. The Electrical Firm, then again, solely ever birthed a comic book collection and a Milton Bradley board recreation based mostly on the “Fargo North, Decoder” sketches. (Two Intellivision video video games have been produced after the present was canceled.)

Sensing the demise of the present and feeling stress from native PBS stations, the Kids’s Tv Workshop produced two remaining seasons of The Electrical Firm, with the considering that they may very well be repeated and thus give the present 4 extra years of life. Really, the present continued to air for about eight extra years, finally working out of juice in early October 1985.

Reruns re-emerged on Noggin beginning in 1995, and Sesame Workshop launched an ill-fated reboot of the present, that includes Lin-Manuel Miranda, in 2009. The present lives on at present within the hearts and minds of its nostalgic followers and previous viewers, all of whom have been hopefully made higher readers by its very existence.

Watch Highlights From ‘The Electrical Firm’